2009:755 - GOLDEN: Site 2, Hoop's Lot, Tipperary

South Tipperary County Council identified an alternative site for a wastewater-treatment plant for the village of Golden, Co. Tipperary. The development was subject to a Part 8 planning procedure and the NMS requested an archaeological impact assessment of the site in advance of any groundworks being carried out. The site is located on the riverbank, 300m downriver of the village, and will be linked to the existing septic tank by a 16m-wide corridor. There are no visible archaeological remains at ground level on the site and no known monuments in the vicinity.

Excavation of four parallel trenches at right angles to the river uncovered the remains of three post-medieval ditches, running in a north–south direction across the site. The pair of ditches at the east end of the site appeared to be part of a field boundary consisting of a double ditch and bank. A field boundary in this location is recorded on the first-edition OS map (c. 1840–41). The third ditch, close to the top edge of the slope dropping down to the flood-plain, appeared to have been replaced earlier by the pair, perhaps in the 18th century. Two sherds of creamware were recovered from the fill of the later ditches.

The site is located between the medieval village of Golden (TS060–097) and the medieval motte (TS068–016) opposite Athassel Abbey (TS068–013), but there was no evidence of medieval or post-medieval settlement on the site.